Russian WWII Female Pilots Know As The Night Witches

Hi, I'm Rick Barron, your host, and welcome to That's Life; I Swear

Since February of 2022, I’ve been watching the ongoing war with Ukraine and Russia. When Putin’s army stormed in, they looked so polish and ready to conquer Ukraine in a manner of hours. Today the Russin army looks like a rag-tag outfit and not the almighty power the world was worried about. Ukraine is kicking their butts.

I’m not saying I feel sorry for Putin and wish him success [sarcasm] with his ‘special military operation’ but it’s too bad Russia doesn't have the military they had during World War Two, when fighting the Germans. There was one group in particular the German troops were absolutely terrified of. The group comprised of pilots, female pilots and were known as the Night Witches.

Let's jump into this. 

I’ve a deep appreciation for history. We can learn from past mistakes that can serve as a guide for the future. People throughout history have made many unfortunate choices, such as Putin when he got this itch to invade Ukraine. He should’ve researched past Russian battle victories, as he might have learned something. That’s why I found this bit of World War Two history fascinating. It’s stories like this that one understands that behind the scenes of more significant events, were smaller events that took place that contributed to the bigger picture.

Russian Female in training. Courtesy of: Wikipedia

During WWII, the Soviet Air Force's 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew challenging missions, bombing Germans with primitive biplanes in the dead of night. The Germans called these Russian pilots "Night Witches", because their only warning before the bombs hit was an ominous whooshing sound resembling a witch's broom.

So how did the Night Witches come into being?

Major Marina Raskova. Courtesy of: Wikipedia

At the beginning of the war, women were not allowed to participate in combat. They were not thought of as being viable soldiers fit for battle. With that notion, Major Marina Raskova had a different point of view in mind to dilute that thinking.

Marina was the first woman in the Soviet Union to achieve the diploma of professional air navigator. She went from a young woman aspiring to become an opera singer to a military instructor to then become Russia’s first female navigator. Marina became a famous aviator as a pilot and a navigator for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. She was the first woman to become a navigator in the Soviet Air Force in 1933. A year later, she started teaching at the Zhukovsky Air Academy, also a first for a woman. She taught male and later, female students military navigation. She was the subject of skepticism by many of her male students but was able to prove herself capable.

Marina had a vision to create female combat flying units. She checked her contact book to see who might listen to her idea. One of those contacts just happened to be the man himself, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. After several discussions and laying out her plan, Stalin gave her the green light to proceed. 

Combat facilitated and ushered in a reluctant acceptance of women in the military, based more on practicality and necessity than equality. As a result, on October 8, 1941, an order was issued to deploy three women's air-force units, including the 588th Regiment. The 588th, formed by Raskova and led by Major Yevdokiya Bershanskaya.

Boy, there’s a name that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue

Initially, the all-female aviation regiment was not welcomed into the military with open arms. They weren’t taken seriously and looked at as "little girls.” Many of their male counterparts saw them as inferior and treated them with a lack of respect. Male chauvinism at it’s worse, even during a time period when the security of Russia was at stake!

Night Witch pilots finish practice training. Courtesy of Wikipedia

Since there were no women in combat in the Air Force before, they were given hand-me-down men's uniforms. With regards to other gear, the women pilots improvised by tearing up bedding to stuff into the end of their boots to make them fit properly. Due to lack of funds, they were also deprived of the modern equipment their male counterparts had access to—radar, radios, machine guns and even parachutes…parachutes!? Instead, they had to use maps, rulers, compasses, stopwatches and pencils to perform their missions. And if they needed to bail out of their plane, they just hoped they were close enough to the ground to survive.

Night Witch pilots were tough. Courtesy of: Mirror

During their training, the pilots of the 588th explored various methods to attack the German army from the air. For example, an attack technique of the night bombers involved idling the engine near the target and gliding to the bomb-release point with only wind noise left to reveal their presence, thus the "whoosh" sound. 

When you think about it, the technique was somewhat of an early drone.

German soldiers compared the whoosh sound to broomsticks and named the pilots "Night Witches". Due to the bombs weight and the low flight altitude, the pilots did not carry parachutes until 1944. Talk about a suicide mission but bravery their male Russian pilots couldn’t match.

The Night Witches nickname was rather fitting, being the 588th was an all-female regiment.

Their missions were hazardous, especially considering how the women were equipped. Most of the recruits were in their late teens to mid-20s, and crew members had to learn how to pilot, navigate and maintain the aircraft to serve the Regiment in any capacity. They underwent intensive training to know what usually took several years to master. Unfortunately, during a state of war, time is a rare commodity.

Polikarpov U-2 plane. Courtesy of Wikipedia

As for the planes the female pilots flew, and knowing the elite German Air Force, it wasn’t a fair fight. The Regiment flew in wood-and-canvas Polikarpov U-2 biplanes, a 1928 design intended for training aircraft and usually used for crop dusting. According to the Wright Museum, a tracer bullet could easily cause the plane to burst into flames, causing some of the women to refer to their aircraft as "a coffin with wings." 

The planes' top speed was just 90 mph, and the weight of the two bombs and crew they carried meant they had to fly low. This made the planes very easy visible targets. That said, with all of these constraints, the women only flew their missions under cover of darkness.

The open design of the aircraft and the fact that they flew at night also meant that the women were exposed to frigid temperatures during Soviet winters. According to The History Channel, the planes would get so cold, touching them would tear off bare skin.

It’s incredible that with all of these impediments, how the Regiment was questioned about their ability to do the job. 

Up to 40 two-person crews flew out each night to complete between eight and 18 missions each. They would go out in three groups, with two planes acting as decoys to draw the German searchlights and gun attacks away from the third plane. The small, slow biplanes' advantage was maneuverability, so they relied on fancy flying to create a diversion. For example, when the navigator of the third plane tapped the pilot on the shoulder, she would kill the engine and silently swoop in for the bomb drop. The three planes would each take turns in this manner until all three planes had dropped their payloads.

The Germans coined the term " Night Witches, " but the women took on the nickname with pride. They had every reason to be proud. 

The Night Witches flew multiple sorties every night, prolonging the attacks as long as possible to deprive the Germans of sleep. It worked: the constant attacks turned the Germans into virtual zombies. The Germans were so angry when they discovered that the pilots were women and started anticipating the nighttime bombing tactics.

The Germans were so afraid of the Night Witches’, that any German who shot one down one of their planes was automatically awarded the prestigious Iron Cross medal.

From June 1942 to October 1943, the Night Witches flew over 23,000 combat sorties or missions, logging over 28,000 flight hours and dropping more than 3,000 tons of bombs and 26,000 flammable shells on Nazi targets. Their bombing raids wreaked havoc on river crossings, railways, warehouses, fuel depots, armored cars, firing positions, and other valuable logistical targets. They also made 155 food and ammunition supply drops to other Soviet armed forces.

By the end of the war, 32 Night Witches were lost in service. The 588th Regiment was highly decorated. By that I mean of the 89 Soviet women who received the Hero of the Soviet Union award—the country's highest honor in WWII—22 was the Night Witches.

Hero of the Soviet Union award. Courtesy of eBay

With what the Nights Witches contributed in the war effort, when the Soviet Union held a massive victory parade after the war, they weren't included in the parade.

What can we learn from this story? What's the take away?             

While women’s roles and rights have continued to grow and evolve across the globe, the Night Witches were instrumental in showing that women are just as capable [if not more], even with minimal support, respect, and equipment, and with all the odds stacked against them. 

By the war's end, approximately 500,000 women were serving in the Soviet military combat roles alongside men. The women were excellent snipers; they also operated anti-aircraft artillery, and some even became tank commanders.

But the Night Witches, gliding in their rickety wood planes under the cloak of darkness, gathered the most acclaim of any single group. 

What is that saying, ‘I am woman, hear me roar’!

Well, there you go. That's life, I swear.

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website, that you can find on either Apple Podcasts/iTunes or Google Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned and the episode transcript.

As always, I thank you for listening. 

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